And now, here we go with the Top 10 independent stars of the world as well as the top five tag teams of the world this week on the Indy Power Rankings on The Barbwire Blog; where we rank the best professional wrestlers from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico, from Europe to Japan. We’ll count down the 10 most popular wrestlers as well as the 5 most popular tag teams in the world this week, hot off the votes from the online poll as well as the votes from independent wrestling writers for the week ending June 29, 2015. Now, on with the countdown!

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of June 29th, 2015

#1 Matt Tremont (@TremontCZW)-“The Bulldozer” returns to the #1 spot AGAIN in 2015! THE top death match wrestler in the United States right now claims his second #1 ranking this year (3rd overall) and his second death match title (5th overall) after going back-to-back at IWA Mid-South’s King of the Death Matches. With HUGE wins over Tank, JD Horror, MASADA, & John Wayne Murdoch, he was the clear cut #1 this week. Tremont is making HISTORY this year. This is a guy that is more than just a death match guy, but he’s etching his names in the history books as one of the greatest death match wrestlers of all time. Period.

#2 Athena (@wg06athena)-The ACW American Joshi Champion defeated Claudia Del Solis in Round 1 of their Queen of Queens tournament to retain the title on 6/28, then beat Su Yung to retain the title in Round 2, and then beat Angel Blue in the finals to again retain the title. With the tournament victory and 3 successful title defenses, Athena returns to the Top 10 after a bit of an absence. Women’s wrestling has come a long way the last 2 years and Athena is a big part of that in the U.S.

#3 Ludark Shaitan (@LuDarKShAiTAN)-Last year’s Queen of the Death Matches runner-up completes the task this year as she claims the 2015 IWA Mid-South Queen of the Death Match crown. The NGX Women’s Champion flew up to Charlestown, IN where she defeated Mistress Burgandi in Round 1, then beat Randi West in Round 2, and then finished up the day by beating Kathy “The Butcher” Owens in the Finals. This is Ludark’s HIGHEST ranking and her first ranking in 2015 at all. Congratulations to this insane talent on the huge win!

#4 John Wayne Murdoch (@johnmurdoch25)-“The Duke of Hardcore” couldn’t quite pull off his second Death Match tournament win this year as he came up short in the finals against Matt Tremont on 6/27, but he earned another ranking in the Top 10. With wins vs. Corporal Robinson, Devon Moore, and Nick Gage (in an instant classic) JWM impressed the crowd, even in defeat. His match vs. Nick Gage is already being billed as a match of the year contender AND one of the best matches in death match tournament history. Don’t believe it? Buy the DVD to find out for yourself.

#5 Roderick Strong (@RoderickStrong)-The PWG World Champion earns yet another ranking in 2015 as he defeated Speedball Mike Bailey on 6/26 to retain the title. 2015 has been an AMAZING year for the former ROH World Champion as he has once again taken the indies by storm. Whether he’s main eventing EVOLVE, PWG, or FIP, Strong has been bringing his “A Game” in 2015. He truly is one of the best in the world and continues to prove that week after week.

#6 Josh Andrews-A 3-0 weekend and a victory in the HCW Light Heavyweight title tournament gets Josh Andrews his first ranking this week. Once again we get a first-timer after he defeated The Rebel on 6/27, then beat Jonny Rose to win the tournament. He followed that up with a third win when he beat The Evil Clown and Mr. Cobblepot in a non-tournament match. As always, it’s good to see some new talent and new names in the Top 10 this week.

#7 Jun Kasai-Last year after CZW’s Tournament of Death, the “Crazy Monkey” enjoyed his first and only #1 ranking. This year hasn’t been quite as productive for one of the best death match wrestlers on Earth, BUT, he earned a Top 10 ranking this week. He teamed with Masashi Takeda and Kenji Fukimoto at Freedoms on 6/25 to defeat Mammoth Sasaki, Kamui and Mr. Gannosuke, then defeated Isami Kodaka by referee stoppage at Makai Alchemy on 6/26, and then teamed with Masashi Takeda and Kenji Fukimoto at Freedoms on 6/27 to defeat Takashi Sasaki, Daisuke Masaoka and Hi69 to go 3-0 for the week. We hope to see more of Kasai in 2015!

#8 Danny Chase-The HOP Full Throttle Champion defeated Timba Wolf on 6/26 to retain the title, then beat Gabriel Kidd on 6/28 to again retain the title, and then wrapped up the weekend when he teamed with Alex Gracie & Bam Bam Barton the same night to defeat Barricade, Stevie Mitchell & Tommy Taylor to go 3-0 for the week. His big weekend got him his first ranking this week proving yet again that talent from all over the world have been doing big things this year, even if the mainstream wrestling media haven’t shed a light on them yet.

#9 Zack Sabre Jr. (@zacksabrejr)-One of the best technical wrestlers in the world re-joins the Top 10 yet again after another very good week. He was #9 last week and held steady again this week as he defeated Chris Hero at PWG on 6/26. With 9 straight victories, this UK superstar is really on a hot streak right now. We’ve said it before but the one thing he may be missing right now to cement his 2015 as highly successful is some gold around his waist. One would assume that’s going to happen sooner rather than later.

#10 Anderson Tyson Moore-A big tour of CWE in Canada produces the very first ranking for Anderson Tyson Moore as he defeated Chase Owens on 6/22 at CWE, then defeated Buddy Collins on 6/23, then defeated Kevin Cannon on 6/25, and then defeated Danny Duggan, Bobby Jay and Mike Mission on 6/26 to win the vacant CWE Championship to go 4-0 for the week. In all honesty, he really should have been higher but the CWE results came after many of the official voters had already cast their ballots.

Honorable Mention. Yukio Sakaguchi-Defeated Kazusada Higuchi at DDT in the semifinals on 6/28 and then defeated Konosuke Takeshita in the finals to win the King of DDT tournament and go 2-0 for the week.

People’s Champ. Antonio Atama (@AntonioAtama)-With XWA’s full support behind him, Atama earns his first win in the online voting competition as he dominated the rest of the contenders after his victory vs. Steve Corino at XWA on 6/27. We expect and hope to see more of him as the year rolls on!

#1 Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)-This was an EASY pick at #1. Not only did they win the PWG World Tag Team Titles from Trevor Lee and Andrew Everett on 6/26, they followed that up with a win vs. Brian Fury and Julian Starr at XWA on 6/27. A 2-0 week gets the Bucks their second #1 ranking this year. With them picking up commitments all over the place, will they still be able to keep a strangehold at the top of the indies? We shall see, but one thing is for sure, they pick up gold where ever they go as they now hold the PWG, IWGP Junior, SCW, 2CW, FWE, and IWL Tag Team Titles right now.

#2 Monster Express (Akira Tozawa & Masato Yoshino)-The Monster Express stable continues to dominate Dragon Gate in 2015 as they get yet another ranking. This tandem has been particularly successful as of late, adding to their success by defeating Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi HAGeeMee & Ryo Jimmy Saito) at Dragon Gate on 6/27 and then defeating Millenials (T-Hawk and Eita) to go 2-0 for the week. They have won an ASTOUNDING 22 straight matches. Enough cannot be said about how dominant this faction has been.

#3 Hunter Brothers (@JimnLeeHunter Jim & Lee Hunter)-The LCW and Kamikaze Tag Team Champions return to the Top 5 this week as they defeated Special Edition at TNT on 6/27 and then beat Danny Hope & Sexy Kev the same night at NWWA to go 2-0 for the week. With 5 wins in their last 7 matches, this UK tag team have been pretty successful lately and with some of the stiff competition in Europe right now, they will have plenty of chances to improve their Tag Team Top 50 ranking in 2015.

#4 Team IOU (@TeamIOU Kerry Awful & Nick Iggy)-The PGP Tag Team Champions continued their recent success as they defeated The Death Dealers again at SWF on 6/26 and then beat Paco Gonzalez and Danny Adams at High Risk on 6/28 to go 2-0 for the week. Their original opponents at High Risk were The Tryout Show Rejects but with Bentley & Murdoch both ailing from KOTDM, IOU took on Gonzalez and Adams. A victory over The Tryout Show Rejects might have meant a bit more, but a loss could have been entirely possible too. IOU may not be quite as successful as last year, but they’re staying pretty consistent as of late and consistency is the key as The Hooligans have shown.

#5 Dia.HEARTS (BxB Hulk & Dragon Kid)-Dragon Gate again shows up with 2 teams representing in the Top 5 as this duo defeated Jimmy Susumu and Super Shisa at Dragon Gate on 6/27 and then teamed with Masaaki Mochizuki on 6/28 to defeat Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, Jimmy Susumu & Ryo “Jimmy” Saito) to go 2-0 for the week. This is certainly one of the most talented tag teams in the Top 5 this week, but the question is whether or not they can add some gold to their mantles to add some legitimacy to their stable/tag team. Big challenges await in Dragon Gate in 2015.

People’s Champs. Detroit vs. Everybody (Cassidy Cain @DatCassidyCain & Jon’tae Keith)-Despite a strong showing from Indy Card Mafia in the online voting competition, Detroit vs. Everybody still dominated. With 232 votes, they secured their 2nd People’s Champs award this week collecting over 100 more votes than any other contenders. Congrats to the 2 time People’s Champs!

And there you have it, the 10 of the most popular independent wrestling stars as well as the 5 most popular independent tag teams of the world as voted by the fans as well as independent wrestling writers across the country. To check out their official web site where YOU can participate in the weekly online poll voting, visit indypowerrankingsipr.wordpress.com as well as their social media accounts:
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/IndyPowerRankings
Twitter: @IndyPowerRankin
Instagram:@IndyPowerRankings

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